CHARDON'S JOURNAL AT FORT CLARK, 1834-1839: Descriptive of Life on the Upper Missouri; of a Fur Trader's Experiences Among the Mandans, Gros Ventres, and Their Neighbors; of the Ravages of the Smallpox Epidemic of 1837
Pierre, South Dakota: Department of History, State of South Dakota, 1932. First edition. Hardcover. Edited with Historical Introduction and Notes by Annie Heloise Abel, Ph.D. Frontispiece, with a facsimile and a portrait. Pierre, South Dakota: Published under the auspices of Lawrence K. Fox, Superintendent, Department of History, State of South Dakota, 1932. First edition. Thirty years after Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through the Mandan villages in present-day North Dakota, the Upper Missouri River region was being plied by fur traders. In 1834 Francis A. Chardon, a churlish Philadelphian of French extraction, took charge of Fort Clark, a main post of the American Fur Company on the Upper Missouri. The journal that Chardon began that year offers a rare glimpse of daily life among the Mandan Indians, including the Arikaras, Yanktons, and Gros Ventres. In particular, it is a valuable and graphic record of the smallpox scourge that nearly destroyed the Mandans in 1837. Chardon describes much of historical interest, including such figures as the interpreter Charbonneau, Sacajawea's husband, and the fantastic James Dickson, "Liberator of all the Indians." Original red cloth binding, with gilt titles. Largely uncut. The spine is ever so slightly faded; otherwise an especially crisp and clean copy. Better than very good. Howes C-303. Very Good. Item #58664
Price: $200.00